That Really Bites

Tonight was supposed to be a date night for Doug and me.  We weren't positive what we were going to do, but we knew we had three hours without children and planned to take full advantage of that time.  

Except ... instead of having today off, he had to work.

And ... instead of getting off work at 1:00 like he had hoped, he worked until about 6:00.

So instead of the fun evening I had planned ... some quality time together ;) then dinner ordered in (or a frozen pizza - I really didn't care!) and a DVD movie, we barely saw each other.

I dropped the kids off at church at 5:00.  I was dressed in my running gear since I chose to meet my friend Laura at Panera this morning instead of going to the gym.  I figured since Doug wasn't going to be home in time for our date, I'd go for a much-needed run.  I dropped them off, left my car in the church's parking lot and ran/walked for 35 minutes.  (More running than walking, in case you were wondering).  I ran about 2.5 miles total.  I'm really just guessing that based on how long it took me.  I typically run about a 10-minute mile, sometimes faster, sometimes slower.  Add in my few minutes to walk to warm up, a 2-minute walk in the middle, and a 6-minute cool down, I'm figuring a did a total of 3.25 - 3.5 miles.

(Oh, and it felt sooooo good to run outside!  I'm so tired of running on the treadmill at the gym!  Running outside is so much more interesting and motivating to me.  I'm glad it was warm enough today!)

Anyway, I sent Doug a text when I first started my warm-up walk to let him know what I was doing.  It is tricky to text and walk when you have an old-fashioned phone like mine.  :)  Anyway, he texted (is that a word?) back that he'd be leaving to come home about in 30 minutes.

After my run I went home to shower and dress.  He got home right around 6:30 as he said.  We talked briefly about our days, then I headed back to the church to teach Kids 4 Truth, since the teacher that I sub for might have strep throat and was staying home tonight and the leader of K4T asked me to fill in last minute.

When the kids and I got home a little while ago, Doug was already in bed.  He's probably dead tired from working so much the past two days when he was supposed to be off.  I can't blame him.

He starts afternoon shift tomorrow, so our opportunity for another date night won't happen until maybe mid-March.  Although we might be able to go to lunch sooner than that.  We'll see.  But we typically have Alex with us when we go.  So it's not the same.

I should be used to these disappointments by now.  This isn't the first time we've had to cancel plans because of his job, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

It just really bites.

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Alex's Soccer Clinic

About two months ago a paper came home from school about the local YMCA's Youth Indoor Soccer League.  I almost always ask the kids if they are interested in participating.  Most of the time, the response is "no".  I don't really know why, but they haven't been interested in doing anything since their swim lessons.

But this time Alex said yes.  We had several discussions about how, if I sign him up for it, he has to finish it.  The full 10 weeks.  January through March.  He never has to play again ... ever ... if he doesn't want to, but he must finish what he started.  The same conversation was had with Keira when she decided to do basketball.  He said he understood and agreed to finish it out.

Well, today was a Soccer Clinic, which we signed up for so he could get an idea of what to expect on Saturday when he has his first practice/game.

I took my camera along, naturally, to try to capture some of the fun.  I wasn't expecting great pictures, which is a good thing, because I didn't get any.  :)  The poor lighting in the gym and the fact that he decided to go all the way on the other side of the gym made photographing him difficult.  I pumped my ISO up to 1600, but still had to use a slow shutter speed, so most of my shots are still blurry.  And grainy.

Doing a few races across the gym to warm up the muscles.

Stretching.  I love the fact that the kid on his left is fixing a wedgie.  :)  Things you don't notice when you're taking a picture.

Practicing dribbling the ball.

I was goofing off with Nick while Alex was doing his thing.  Nick is in an "I'm not going to pose or smile for the camera" phase, so I kept just holding the camera out in front of him and snapping.  Here are a couple pics that I got of him.

This one actually isn't too bad.

This one cracks me up.

I couldn't stay in the gym to watch the whole time because I was getting frustrated with Alex for not listening to the instructors.  So I went out into the hallway with Keira and Nick, who quickly ditched me to go play basketball in the other gym.

Alex came out crying several times, telling me he was quitting, and wanting to go home.  Ugh!  I wouldn't let him though.  I made him go back into the gym, even if he didn't participate.  Which I don't believe he did.

When we left, I was asking myself why I do these things.  Did I really expect things to be different this time?  I would get frustrated watching him in swim lessons, so I would either take my iPod and block him out or I would go upstairs and exercise.  Or I would take a magazine and go sit in the hallway until class was over.  He just wants to do what he wants to do.  He doesn't care what the instructors are trying to show him.  This makes me wonder if he is like this in Preschool too.  His teacher has told me he has trouble sitting still but nothing like this.

Anyway, I left there completely frustrated.  So we'll see how things go on Saturday morning.  I have a feeling we'll be sitting there watching him play over in the corner while the other kids play soccer.  I'm hoping the coaches won't let that happen.  

I will make him go every week though.  He said he wouldn't quit and I won't let him.  I will hold him to his word.  Perhaps eventually he'll see that the other kids are having fun and want to join in.  

I can only hope.

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